Assets of former defense minister to be seized: court

Staff Writer, with CNA

The Taipei District Court yesterday approved the provisional seizure of the assets of former minister of national defense Chen Chao-min (陳肇敏) and seven others implicated in the wrongful execution of airman Chiang Kuo-ching (江國慶) in 1997.

The ruling was handed down after the Ministry of National Defense asked the court on Tuesday to grant the provisional seizure of Chen’s assets, as he was the head of Air Combat Command at the time of the incident, as well as the assets of officers involved in the case to prevent them from transferring funds from their bank accounts.

On Oct. 27, the Northern Military District Court ruled that, under the Criminal Compensation Act (刑事補償法), Chiang’s mother, Wang Tsai-lien (王彩蓮), is to receive NT$131.85 million (US$4.37 million) in compensation. The court held the eight military officers involved in the case responsible for the reparation.

The Taipei District Court has notified the Northern Military District Court of the ruling to implement the legal procedures.

These are likely to include the freezing of any assets registered in the names of Chen and the seven officers, such as property, cars and bank accounts.

As to whether other officers involved the matter would be asked to help repay the money the ministry has paid to Chiang’s mother, the compensation committee would need to conduct further research before releasing any names or amounts, said an official with the ministry’s Judicial Department, Shen Shih-wei (沈世偉).

If the officers are unwilling to compensate the family, the Northern Military District Court would file civil lawsuits against them, Shen said.

In 1996, Chiang was falsely accused of the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl at Air Combat Command in Taipei. He was convicted and executed in 1997.

In May last year, Taipei prosecutors identified the real murderer as another air force member.

In September, Chiang was acquitted of murder in a posthumous retrial by a military court.